The Night Stalkers

Subject: The Night Stalkers Sun Apr 03, 2011 11:31 am

"A Night Stalker leaping from the shadows to attack a hostile foe."

Name

Night Stalkers, "Nightkin" or No'Coxilum

Appearance

The night stalkers bear a striking resemblance to humans while they are still very much different from each other. Night Stalkers possess slightly thicker skin, more sturdy and sharper teeth and fangs, their ears are larger and pointy, and their bodies usually more sinewy and slim. Their skin and hair color ranges from dark blue and violet to black while their eyes are usually midnight blue, dark purple or dark red. The Night Stalkers also have strong, relatively long claws (1-2 inches, 3-6 cm). Their average height is around 5'3-5'4 OR 160-170 cm. The Night Stalkers tend to live a little bit longer on average than humans do.

Personality

Night Stalkers are generally calm and neutral, respectful, very loyal to each of their own and likely towards whom they may befriend. While they're not exactly shy, they usually have very little will to remain in large open spaces and well-lit areas. Another quirk of theirs is that almost all of the time they wear something to disguise their appearance whenever they're outside of their own groups and change their voice to an ambigous one to remain unknown for as long as possible. The Night Stalkers follow the teachings of "Night Mother" who grant them their "blessings" and practice plenty of illusion and dark magics that well compliment a phletora of their other affinities and abilities. Night Stalkers generally refuse to speak of these teachings or abilities to anyone outside their tightly-knit societies.

History & Culture

Night Stalkers are believed by scholars to once had been humans who where twisted and mutated in the presence of large amounts of dark and shadow energies which would explain their racial affinity towards such magical abilities. It unknown whether this mutation was accidental or purposeful; whichever the case, it spawned the Night Stalkers. The race has existed for quite a little time, only some hundreds of years.
The Night Stalkers' societies have been very tightly knit from the beginning of the race: everyone takes care of each other and acts of betrayal and lying are very rare among them.
The Night Stalker names consist usually of a given name and a title, or family/clan name. A few examples would be "Dmirjtos the Unseen" and "Alikhus of the Duskshine".
They have developed their own language what is usually referred as "Moonspeak" or "Shadowtalk" or a similiar variation. It consists of very subtle movements and noises which makes their communication extremely hard to notice, understand and follow by anyone outside of their race. Night Stalkers are also adept at mimicing noises and voices. They could listen to someone talk for a moment and then nearly flawlessly replicate their voice. Races with different vocal cords and language are obviously harder to replicate by the Night Stalkers.

Quite a few races look down on the Night Stalkers due to their past, affinities and extreme secrecy. Many find it hard to trust these beings and even more tend to discriminate them, which may play a part with Night Stalkers preferring to be disguised outside of their well-hidden towns. The Night Stalkers make for excellent mercenaries, assassins, saboteurs, traders, bodyguards and so forth due to their remarkable ability to not-being-seen. Many of the race are facinated by collecting new items, especially if they're rare or otherwise considered valuable, and as such, there are plenty of Night Stalker ran black markets where they barter and trade equipment and exotic items to whoever pays the most or seek to expand their collection of rarities. They also practice plenty of enchanting themselves among other magical arts to improve on pre-existing things or create new ones.

The Night Stalker society and hiearchy are relatively loose due to every Night Stalker being like a family member to another. There is no need for strict rules, laws or enforcers to guide the population, thus the elder ones and guards are usually only overseeing the community and acting as guardians, should anything find their secluded settlements.
The Night Stalker numbers are relatively low when put in contrast with other teeming races and there is a total absense of Night Stalker halflings. This is because the Night Stalkers are unable to reproduce with a member of another race, although usually finding a mate within their own societies isn't all that hard. This ease of bonding may be positively affected by their racial trait what is referred to as "Night Mother's Fortitude". The trait creates a bond of some description between each of the Night Stalkers. This allows them to detect one another with ease and to understand each other better. Nearby Night Stalkers will also feel a sense of loss, should something very bad happen to another one of their kin. This bind also makes their souls, minds and bodies harder to affect by negative or hostile manner whenever they're not alone.

Racial Traits

The Night Stalkers have developed a wide variety of racial traits and affinities, mainly involving the use of dark and illusion magic in some manner or form. Some of these abilities include but are not entirely limited to,

Quote :: Nighteye *
Allows the Night Stalker to see perfectly in dark. Their eyes, however, are more sensitive to light.

Quote :: Shadowmeld *
Allows the Night Stalker to blend and meld in with shadows, rendering them nigh invisible without a source of light or other means of detection.

Quote :: Night Running
Allows the Night Stalker to literally travel in and between the shadows, allowing them to easily disappear, travel and reappear without being detected.

Quote :: Night Mother's Fortitude *
Binds the Night Stalker's soul with others of its kin, allowing them to share each others' experiences, thoughts, opinions and feelings very openly. The trait also reduces the negative effects against their sacred fields, minds and bodies whenever they're in company of one or more Night Stalkers. The ability to split and resist hostile effects is directly propotional to the amount, condition and experience of the Night Stalkers present.

Quote :: Night Mother's Gift
A more advanced ability to mature Night Stalkers. It allows them to create an eclipse of artificial night over a small area for a short while to either serve as a distraction, create a window of opportunity to escape or to boost their combat capabilities. This darkness cannot be pierced with ordinary sources of light.

Some Night Stalkers may develop different traits, but usually these five are the basic ones each Night Stalker knows, regardless of being focused with combat, magic or something else. Marked (*) traits are concrete ones, which every single Night Stalker possesses. Unmarked ones could be changed to something different. Most Night Stalkers possess up to five racial traits, though some may have more or less. The amount of racial abilities, whatever they may be, does not affect the amount of other skills or abilities that a Night Stalker may or may not possess.

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Sun Apr 03, 2011 12:39 pm

THE GLORY Posts : 1415 Join date : 2010-04-06 Age : 43

these are just pretty much vampire and drow with some added stealth benefits

eeehhh, im sorry but i dont like it

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Sun Apr 03, 2011 2:50 pm

Vampires..? Also, sorry Gambit but I don't get it.

THE GLORY Posts : 1415 Join date : 2010-04-06 Age : 43

Markka wrote:: Vampires..? Also, Sorry Gambit but I don't get it.

the vampire part would be whatever is hinting towards night with this race, as vampires stereotypically loves nights.

i dont even know, i'm hyped up on cough syrup and aspirin. i still know i think this race feels a bit too much like a random toss-together of other races.

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Sun Apr 03, 2011 2:55 pm

I suppose vampires are not the only things that like the night. A lot of other stuff stereotypically tend to like nights. Plenty of other races are more or less a toss-together too, though, are they not?

THE GLORY Posts : 1415 Join date : 2010-04-06 Age : 43

Markka wrote:: I suppose vampires are not the only things that like the night. A lot of other stuff stereotypically tend to like nights. Plenty of other races are more or less a toss-together too, though, are they not?

dont read too much into stuff. it was just a random thought. not everything has to be a pointless debate.

and toss-together was a bad choice of putting it, my bad.

what i'm trying to say is that this doesn't seem like it has anything special other than some random thrown-in racial abilities for being invisible in darkness and shit. if you take those things out, they're basically drow. and even with those abilities, they're like drow with illusion magic.
and the fact that all of them can teleport inbetween shadows seems not only very overpowered to me, but if i've understood everything correctly, it would be very advanced magic.

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Sun Apr 03, 2011 3:22 pm

I realize that it's a very powerful ability indeed and quite advanced. Perhaps to make it more sensible, no Night Stalker under the age of 20 would have such strong abilities? That could weed out the battle-kiddie Night Stalkers, if that is one of your underlying concerns. Also, while the abilities are strong, the Night Stalkers aren't too strong physically, nor they can become awfully much so due to their physique. Perhaps that adds a little bit of a con to these fellows.

The race is special mostly because of how tight-knit they are and the bond they share with each other. Every other race is prone to having fights among each other, right? Every other race is quite likely to betray one another and lie to each other. Night Stalkers are quite much of a contrast to this, as they are very loyal to each other, largely due to the bond they share with each other.

Edit: HNNG goddamn typoes sapping my messages.

THE GLORY Posts : 1415 Join date : 2010-04-06 Age : 43

Quote :: The race is special mostly because of how tight-knit they are and the bond they share with each other. Every other race is prone to having fights among each other, right? Every other race is quite likely to betray one another and lie to each other. Night Stalkers are quite much of a contrast to this, as they are very loyal to each other, largely due to the bond they share with each other.

every race fights amongst itself to establish a hierachy of power.

without in-fighting, there'd be anarchy. a race in anarchy wouldn't live long.

and besides, any race can feel a strong bond with another race, only it's more individualistic.

it's just not distinct enough in my opinion. it's the drow with illusion magic and a fondness for their own people.

and sorry, but one of my concerns wasnt about battle-kiddies, really. it was more the ability itself is extremely hard to perform through magic, and as thus shouldn't really be available at whim to a race, regardless of age restrictions.

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Sun Apr 03, 2011 3:58 pm

I meant that they do not fight in the word's more literal sense. Sure, there are arguments but a consensus can be reached most of the time. There is a hierachy, although a quite loose one. They get along with each other well enough so there is no need for such a prominent power structure. Granted, there is one, but it's a quite loose one. Usually the most experienced ones are responsible of overseeing and teaching the lesser Night Stalkers. There are (usually) no violent conflicts, but arguments which can be solved.

The race's bond is certainly incomparable to anything else, as far as I'm aware. They literally share a spiritual bond with each other, not just an emotional one. That grants them some benefits as well as some weaknesses.
Now, to assert the racial power, how about we look to something else for a moment? How about a vampires? They are extremely strong and resistant to nearly everything else but holy items and magic. That is not in no way overpowered? How about giants? They can step on you and there is nothing you can do, and it's entirely racial. Is that not overpowered?
Granted, it may be hard to perform via magic but that can be made easy enough with a good amount of practice. By the age of 20, I figure that it would be easy enough, assuming the Night Stalker in question even has that racial ability. It is an optional one that could be changed around to something else.

If we bring the "but their Sacred Field isn't developed enough" card to play, could we not assume that theirs is different and it allows for these abilities to develop early on? If such changes to Sacred Field were not possible, I figure that there wouldn't be a whole ton of stuff roaming about in Aeria, unless I am utterly mistaken about how the thing works.

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Sun Apr 03, 2011 4:39 pm

Aside from the very last power, the Night Mother's Gift, I really couldn't oppose to it. I love having a diversity in races, and more (even if they're slight) variations in the standard humanoid archetype. I know I'm biased :V

You could make it request required, if need be.

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Sun Apr 03, 2011 7:08 pm

Gambit wrote:

This image displays my emotions for this.

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Sun Apr 03, 2011 7:18 pm

Let's remember to use our words kids. Not only are they more mature, they can specify exactly what you dislike about something, and your suggestions to remedy it. Making rude faces accomplishes nothing. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Sun Apr 03, 2011 10:21 pm

I know you've put a lot of effort into this Markka, like you always do, and I respect that, but these are my issues with it.

1. Do they worship Shar? They'd have to. There is no "Night Mother" that could bestow these abilities on them or create them. If Shar did create them, they wouldn't call her Night Mother, they'd call her Shar. But honestly, Shar has too many races affiliated with her as it is. Vampires, Drow, and the Forgotten. Few other Gods even have one race of their own, and Shar would have four with this addition.

2. Their appearance suggests a cross between Drow and Vampire, like Mack said. Add in their abilities, and it just seems unoriginal. Again, to repeat Mack, a Drow could just learn dark and illusion magic and be just as good.

3. I've made it clear in the past that I really dislike introducing new races. We're all supposed to accept that this whole race and culture exists openly and has always existed, but somehow up to this point has remain hidden? Can you say plot holes? If it were my decision, I'd just delete this forum.

THE GLORY Posts : 1415 Join date : 2010-04-06 Age : 43

Ramona wrote:: Aside from the very last power, the Night Mother's Gift, I really couldn't oppose to it. I love having a diversity in races, and more (even if they're slight) variations in the standard humanoid archetype. I know I'm biased :V

You could make it request required, if need be.

i'm sorry but this is shit-in-pants-and-put-on-head retarded

races need to be alot more distinct than just "elves with other culture" (for example).
that's like saying the tribal black people deep in the jungles that nobody's really had any contact with are an entirely new species.

that's not how it works.

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Mon Apr 04, 2011 9:18 am

Munroe wrote:: I know you've put a lot of effort into this Markka, like you always do, and I respect that, but these are my issues with it.

1. Do they worship Shar? They'd have to. There is no "Night Mother" that could bestow these abilities on them or create them. If Shar did create them, they wouldn't call her Night Mother, they'd call her Shar. But honestly, Shar has too many races affiliated with her as it is. Vampires, Drow, and the Forgotten. Few other Gods even have one race of their own, and Shar would have four with this addition.

2. Their appearance suggests a cross between Drow and Vampire, like Mack said. Add in their abilities, and it just seems unoriginal. Again, to repeat Mack, a Drow could just learn dark and illusion magic and be just as good.

3. I've made it clear in the past that I really dislike introducing new races. We're all supposed to accept that this whole race and culture exists openly and has always existed, but somehow up to this point has remain hidden? Can you say plot holes? If it were my decision, I'd just delete this forum.

I was thinking about that Shar could be the "Night Mother", even though I kind've dislike the idea of them being Sharites and thus "inherently evil", so to say. Alternatively one could say that they follow Selune or similiar god(dess) although there were created as a byproduct of concentrated shadow energies. Though this does raise a question about their racial skill with dark magic. Unless there is no way for their Sacred Field to somehow be altered by the shadow energies to allow them to access such abilities, then I'm at loss.

Their appearance suggests a cross between Drow and Vampire because that reference picture is the closest one that I could find after four-five hours of searching, so I went with that although I'm not entirely pleased with it. Also, if you read their history, you would know that they live in secrecy, hidden away from others. They're not great in numbers and whenever they go out, they're disguised, plus they are quite stealthy. It could be that most of the people don't know about them. Plot hole(s) patched.
Also, Drows. I can't see how you can even compare the Night Stalkers to Drows. I can't find a Drow lore thread anywhere in the Races section so there is no way to actually compare them. The only similiarty I can see is with the affinity towards illusion abilities. Diversity, then? They're supposedly humanoids altered by large concentration(s) of dark energies, which changed them to a new race. So they're not just black people from a jungle whom nobody has never contacted.

THE GLORY Posts : 1415 Join date : 2010-04-06 Age : 43

Quote :: Also, if you read their history, you would know that they live in secrecy, hidden away from others. They're not great in numbers and whenever they go out, they're disguised, plus they are quite stealthy. It could be that most of the people don't know about them. Plot hole(s) patched.

doesn't cover the plotholes well enough.

Quote :: They're supposedly humanoids altered by large concentration(s) of dark energies, which changed them to a new race.

not diverse enough.

Quote :: I can't find a Drow lore thread anywhere in the Races section so there is no way to actually compare them. The only similiarty I can see is with the affinity towards illusion abilities.

the drow exist, even though everyone's too lazy or busy to make race thread, and there's a shitload of more similarities.

i'm way to ill to argue right now, so i'm just going to say that i deny this.

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Mon Apr 04, 2011 11:18 am

And yet there are far more unoriginal races even in the accepted section. I've used up my shots, so if none of this is enough to convince you, I don't honestly know what I can do anymore.

What the heck is diverse enough, then? Honestly.

THE GLORY Posts : 1415 Join date : 2010-04-06 Age : 43

Markka wrote:: What the heck is diverse enough, then? Honestly.

something that's not drow hidden away from the world with the natural powers of illusion magic.

Quote :: And yet there are far more unoriginal races even in the accepted section.

as a moderator you should realise most of the current race threads are
A) extremely old and as thus up for heavy review and will most likely be subject to change
B) not in any way ensuring them a spot in the lore should they be deemed outdated/discontinued
C) extremely lacking. ie there's several races that exist that don't even have a thread.

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Mon Apr 04, 2011 12:30 pm

Munroe wrote:: I know you've put a lot of effort into this Markka, like you always do, and I respect that, but these are my issues with it.

1. Do they worship Shar? They'd have to. There is no "Night Mother" that could bestow these abilities on them or create them. If Shar did create them, they wouldn't call her Night Mother, they'd call her Shar. But honestly, Shar has too many races affiliated with her as it is. Vampires, Drow, and the Forgotten. Few other Gods even have one race of their own, and Shar would have four with this addition.

2. Their appearance suggests a cross between Drow and Vampire, like Mack said. Add in their abilities, and it just seems unoriginal. Again, to repeat Mack, a Drow could just learn dark and illusion magic and be just as good.

3. I've made it clear in the past that I really dislike introducing new races. We're all supposed to accept that this whole race and culture exists openly and has always existed, but somehow up to this point has remain hidden? Can you say plot holes? If it were my decision, I'd just delete this forum.

Sums up my opionions in full.

Primarily point three. Lore inconsistencies are never a good thing. Despite large effort put into this, chucking new races into the mixing pot isn't going to work unless they're practically undistinguishable from humans which would account for why they've not been known of previously.

I haven't really read into Drow lore, but if Munroe and Mack are both convince it's a vampire/drow mix, there's no questioning it.

Subject: Re: The Night Stalkers Mon Apr 04, 2011 12:57 pm

So be it.

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